Refugees Opt To Stay On Boat Rather Than Live In Cork

REFUGEES currently sailing to mainland Europe have turned down an offer to land in Kinsale harbour, stating that they’ll just circle the Mediterranean for a while and ‘see how things work out’.

The passengers on the cramped, unsafe vessel are believed to be making the daring crossing to Europe from war-torn countries such as Libya and Syria, as part of a recent surge in migrant numbers risking their lives to escape their troubled homelands.

This deadly journey has resulted in several tragedies, with thousands of migrants needing to be rescued from high seas every week.

The plight of the refugees has led to several European countries opening their doors to help ease the traffic pouring into countries such as Italy and Greece, although officials in Cork were surprised when the 1,000 migrants currently on a leaky boat turned down their offer to accommodate them.

“We sent them a message saying come on to Cork lads, sure we’ll put you up in the city,” said Fintan McGinn, chief spokesperson for the Cork Refugee Welcoming Committee.

“They just sent us a message back saying they were ‘grand’, like, not a bother on them, and that they were just having a day out on the sea and weren’t looking to land anywhere”.

“It was odd because we know they had sent out requests to land in other countries, but when we offered them refuge in Cork they said they were probably just going to spin around the Aegean for a while and then maybe head back to Syria where it was safe”.

McGinn went on to state that so far no refugees have opted to flee their homeland to live in Cork, with a group of Syrian families driven out of their homes by ISIS forces stating that they’d take their chances where they were.